


In Vino Veritas

by kiboutozetsubou



Series: College AU [1]
Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: College AU, F/M, M/M, dont take me seriously with this lol, kind of silly, slight warning for komaeda doing some questionable things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-15
Updated: 2015-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-23 03:25:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3752683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiboutozetsubou/pseuds/kiboutozetsubou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>College AU. Hinata throws a party at his house and invites his twin brother Izuru. Komaeda and Izuru meet and quickly realize they have something in common—that is, being conniving little shits. Also, it might just be Komaeda's lucky night after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Vino Veritas

**Author's Note:**

> friend wanted college au kamukoma, i quickly obliged because there is nothing this world needs more than more fluffy kamukoma. this is a whole bunch of self-indulgent silliness that probably isn't very good, but oh well. it's fluffy kamukoma and that's all that matters.

“So I’m throwing a party at my place this weekend.” 

Komaeda turns around from his desk at his roommate’s sudden words. Hinata is splayed across his bed, one leg propped up, examining the manga held up in front of him with disinterest. When he sees Komaeda’s looking at him, he lowers the book and cocks his head. “My parents are going to be out of town,” he clarifies.

It’s no secret to all who know Hajime Hinata that he lives in an extravagantly large house only a few towns away from their university, a quick train ride away, and it has certainly been suggested before that he take advantage of that fact to host a party there. But his parents always seemed to be around, and so far it never worked out.

Evidently they got lucky. Komaeda smiles. “Oh, finally? I’m sure Souda-kun will be pleased.” 

Hinata snorts. “Yeah, thanks to him bugging me about it all the time, I know I have to do it now.” 

“Hmm.” Komaeda taps his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe this time he’ll actually manage to get somewhere with Sonia-san.”

“Yeah right.” Hinata cocks an eyebrow. “You know as well as I do that that’s never going to happen.”

“Speaking of love interests,” Komaeda adds and Hinata’s face immediately darkens. “Are you going to invite Nanami-san?”

He ducks as the manga Hinata was holding flies at him at breakneck speed. It collides with his desk and knocks a few books over. He laughs at Hinata’s murderous expression regardless.

“Do you really have to bring that up all the time?” Hinata snaps.

“But _Hinata-kun_ ,” Komaeda says teasingly, with a deceptively innocent smile. “There’s no need to be embarrassed.” 

“Fuck you,” Hinata shoots back, but then he notices Komaeda’s coming towards the bed. He inches away cautiously. “Stop, what are you—” 

He’s interrupted as Komaeda jumps on the bed, pinning him in place. The mattress bounces up and Komaeda’s head smacks the bottom of the top bunk, but he continues to smile deviously.

“Get the hell off me,” Hinata grunts, annoyed but entirely unsurprised, as he attempts to squirm free. 

“Anyone would be lucky to have you, Hinata-kun,” Komaeda says happily. “If you ask me, Nanami-san had better act fast before someone like me steals you away from her.” 

He punctuates this statement by making a disgusting kissy face and leaning in. Hinata spasms and shoves him away. 

“Yeah right, you fucking fruit,” he growls. “Even if I liked dick I’d never want your pasty ass.” 

Komaeda just laughs and rolls off of him, flopping down beside him. 

“Go away,” Hinata tells him.

“I’m comfortable,” Komaeda replies, turning onto his side and throwing one arm around Hinata’s waist. “Let’s take a nap, Hinata-kun.” 

Hinata grits his teeth, but after a few moments, acquiesces and closes his eyes.

 

 

If Hinata were honest with himself, most of the time he lied when he said he couldn’t throw a party because his parents were home. There were several occasions when they weren’t there, but the party still couldn’t be held, for another, more dire reason. 

That reason is his twin brother, Izuru. 

Hinata and Izuru have virtually nothing in common. Hinata has always been a fairly average student, who had to study hard and pay for expensive tutoring to get good grades. However, everything in life, academics included, proved to be no challenge to Izuru, the prodigal, genius son. He’s always been effortlessly brilliant at everything, and yes, if he’s still being honest, Hinata will admit that he has always been a bit resentful of that.

But no amount of cleverness could help Izuru in the domain of personal relationships, and unlike Hinata, he never had any friends. He still has no friends, in the elite university he was shipped off to that Hinata wasn’t smart enough to get into.

Having said that, Izuru is not a people person. In fact, he’s so averse to the idea of people that he doesn’t want them in his house even when he’s not actually present to see them. He doesn’t come home most weekends, but he maintained to Hinata many, many times over that he would never speak to him again if he invited people to party at their house.

This isn’t much of a threat, because they hardly speak much anyway. Not because they’re not particularly close, but just because Izuru hardly speaks to anyone, as a general rule.

Initially, Hinata did not want to respect his brother’s wishes.

“But you won’t even be here!” he argued before.

“That’s exactly what I don’t like about it,” Izuru responded coldly. “I don’t want strangers in my house when I’m not there.”

“Why?” Hinata exclaimed in frustration. “It’s my house too, you know!”

“I’m sure some drunken idiots will manage to find their way into my room and do some things that’ll have to make me burn my entire bedspread. I know what goes on at this parties.”

At this, Hinata wanted to respond that, no, obviously Izuru did _not_ know what went on at these parties—but he was a bit astonished at the realization that his antisocial brother even knew what sex _was_.

That ended the argument and Hinata never bothered to bring it up again. Maybe because he secretly understood Izuru’s concern. His friends weren’t the tamest partiers. 

But speaking of friends, it became annoying to keep making excuses to them, and Souda in particular, who was relentless.

And, admittedly, he thought about the possibility of getting somewhere with Nanami at this party.

So this is how he finds himself confronting Izuru about the matter again, over the phone, one night when Komaeda is out of the room. 

No sooner does Hinata get the words “So I was thinking about—” out of his mouth does Izuru reply with an immediate “No.”

Izuru is annoyingly perceptive. Either that, or he just decided to say no to whatever Hinata was going to ask. Both are equally plausible.

“Can’t you just hear me out?” Hinata asks, annoyed.

He hears a huff on the other end and then silence, which he takes as a cue to go on. 

“Everybody keeps asking when I’m gonna throw a party. I just kinda wanna get it over with. Just one time, and I promise no one’s gonna go in your room.”

“Hajime,” Izuru says and Hinata can tell he’s a bit annoyed, too. “I don’t want anyone in the house when I’m not there.”

“What are you, Mom?” Hinata snaps, but then he thinks about it for a moment. Before Izuru can reply he hastens to add, “Why don’t you come, too?”

“No,” comes the immediate answer, once again.

“Come _on_ ,” Hinata says exasperatedly. “That way you can keep an eye on everyone, _and_ maybe make some friends.” 

“I doubt any of your friends are interesting.” 

“Thanks a lot,” Hinata replies sarcastically. “Look, can’t you just come and see what it’s like? It’s not like you ever have anything better to do over the weekend.” 

There are several beats of silence, and Hinata holds his breath. Then, “I guess it might provide me with some entertainment.”

“Great,” Hinata says with a determined air of finality. “Thanks. You’re the best.”

“I’m surprised you’re admitting that. Weren’t you always sensitive about it?” 

“Never mind, you still suck dick.”

“I don’t do that.” Izuru says it with such straightforward innocence that Hinata can’t even reply properly. 

“Alright, whatever. See you on Friday.”

He hangs up and lets out a long breath. For a moment he stands there, phone in hand, thinking. Then a small smile crawls across his face. That was surprisingly easy.

Now if he can actually get Izuru to enjoy the party, maybe he’ll even be able to have more.

 

 

Komaeda arrives at the party a bit late. He’s never usually late to anything, but he had to wait for Nanami, who, typically, fell asleep while getting ready. 

It’s worth it, though, to arrive with Nanami. The mortified look on Hinata’s face when he opens the door and sees who Komaeda’s brought with him is most _definitely_ worth it.

Hinata scowls at Komaeda. Komaeda grins cheekily, linking his arm with Nanami’s. 

“Sorry we’re late,” Nanami murmurs, rubbing her eye with her free hand.

Hinata turns to her and the scowl drops from his face. He sighs, standing away from the doorway to let them in. “It’s fine. It’s not like you guys had to be here right when it started.” 

“But I wanted to help you set up, Hinata-kun!” Komaeda says apologetically as they follow him inside.

The house is enormous. Komaeda has never seen it before and it really is something to behold, although his own house is quite nice, as well. The doorway opens up into a foyer, where coats have been thrown haphazardly, and then further into a spacious living area. A few people have congregated around the large sofa, nursing drinks and passing around what looks to be a joint. To the other side, there’s a stereo system blaring a cacophony of music as other partygoers dance around and grind against one another.

It’s not really Komaeda’s type of scene. He doesn’t have any particular interest in dancing, alcohol, or drugs. In point of fact, he never goes to any parties. He’s only here to support Hinata—and, admittedly, to oversee any potential progress he makes with Nanami.

Nanami doesn’t look to be the type to be here either, which Komaeda thinks is a good sign. Possibly she only came because Hinata is hosting the party? Interesting.

He mulls this over as Hinata leads them to the kitchen for drinks.

“I know you probably won’t drink this,” Hinata says as he hands Komaeda a red cup of beer-colored liquid. “But I’ve never actually seen you drunk before, so I’m gonna try to make it happen.” 

“But Hinata-kun,” Komaeda says as he accepts the cup, “what if I get so drunk that I confess my love to you?”

Hinata snarls at him and Nanami looks faintly alarmed, but he loses track of any retort either of them might make, thinking over his own words. If he can get these two drunk enough... what was that saying, again? Ah, right. _In vino veritas._

“Here, Nanami,” Hinata says when he’s done yelling at Komaeda, and hands her another cup. The liquid in this one is a peculiar green color. “I know you said alcohol makes you tired, so I mixed yours with Red Bull.”

“Thank you, Hinata-kun.” Nanami accepts it with a small smile. “I don’t know much about these kinds of parties, but you’re being a very gracious host, I think.” 

Hinata cracks a smile of his own at that. “I don’t know about that, but thanks. Anyway, I’m gonna get another drink in the garage—”

“I’ll get it,” Komaeda interrupts. 

Hinata casts him a suspicious glare. 

“Don’t worry about it, Hinata-kun,” Komaeda says sweetly. “I’ll get it, and you two can stay and... talk.” 

Hinata looks annoyed and a bit embarrassed. Nanami just nods. Good, now Hinata thinks his scheme is to leave them alone for a bit, so he won’t be suspecting anything else.

Komaeda heads off to the garage. Well, he’s never been to Hinata’s house before, so he heads off to where he thinks the garage is—and evidently gets lucky, because he finds it. 

It’s quiet compared to the rest of the first floor of the house. It seems not many partygoers yet realized that there are drinks in there, because no one is there and the fridge is very well-stocked. 

Komaeda selects a drink he thinks Hinata would like and pours far more liquor in it than strictly necessary. 

Of course he’s not trying to _drug_ Hinata or anything, just... speed along the drinking process so he can stop being too shy to ask Nanami out. Hinata will thank him later, surely. 

He stops in his tracks as a sense comes over him that he’s being watched. But no, Hinata wouldn’t be able to sneak up on him like that, so it must be someone else. Relaxing, he turns around, drink in hand.

There’s another young man there, standing quietly and stoically behind him. He has piercing red eyes that travel over Komaeda carefully as if picking him apart piece by piece, and that are partially obscured by long, long dark hair. He’s dressed neatly in a suit that appears very rightly out of place at such a casual party. 

Komaeda supposes from an objective perspective he may look intimidating, but all he can think of is _oh no he’s hot._

“Oh, hello,” Komaeda greets him casually, swirling the drink in his hand. “I’m sorry, am I in your way?” 

He moves out of the way of the fridge, but the other boy continues to stare at him and makes no move toward it. Komaeda patiently waits for an answer. 

“Who is that drink for?” the boy asks finally. 

Komaeda blinks. “It’s for me. Why do you ask?” 

“It’s not for you,” comes the immediate response. “I can tell. Who is it for?” 

Komaeda grins, pretext of innocence gone. Oh, but this guy could be a bit of fun. “Well, this is embarrassing. You figured me out. It’s for a friend. I just want him to loosen up a bit.” 

Cold red eyes stare into him for a few moments of silence. Then they blink and turn away, and the other boy leaves, as silently as he entered. 

Komaeda stares after him intently, his interest officially piqued. 

When he gets back to Hinata and Nanami, he gives Hinata his drink and can’t stop himself from asking about the strange boy. After all, it’s Hinata’s party, so Hinata should know who he is.

“What does he look like?” Nanami asks curiously. 

“Attractive,” is what comes out of Komaeda’s mouth. 

Hinata cuffs him on the back of the head. “Seriously.” 

“Okay, okay,” Komaeda says with a laugh. “Well he was really distinctive-looking. He had really long dark hair, and red eyes, and he was wearing a suit—Hinata-kun?” 

He stops talking as Hinata’s face pales dangerously. Komaeda frowns, concerned, and a bit worried that maybe he noticed something off about the drink. 

“Are you fucking serious?” Hinata asks loudly. 

“What’s wrong, Hinata-kun?” Komaeda replies tentatively. 

“No, this isn’t happening.” Hinata shakes his head as though to clear it. “No way. No fucking way did you just tell me you have the hots for my fucking brother.” 

Oh. “... Oh.” At least it wasn’t about the drink. 

“I think I might vomit,” Hinata adds dismally. 

“So that’s Izuru?” Komaeda asks. “I thought you two would look more similar.” 

He never met Izuru, although Hinata mentioned him from time to time. Not much, though, and were they not such good friends and roommates, he probably wouldn’t know Hinata had a twin brother at all. 

“Stop speaking,” Hinata says, screwing his eyes shut as if to dispel a horrible mental image from his brain.

“Despair is not a very good look on you, Hinata-kun,” Komaeda comments lightly. 

“Hinata-kun,” Nanami pipes up before Hinata starts strangling Komaeda or anything similarly violent, “there are some video games in the other room. Will you come play with me?” 

Hinata lets out a long breath and appears to calm down a bit. “Sure, but I don’t know why I’m agreeing. I know I’ll lose.” 

He stalks off, and Komaeda smiles gratefully at Nanami before she leaves. “Thank you, Nanami-san.” 

“No problem,” she replies. “Good luck.” And then she turns to follow Hinata. 

She’s obviously under the impression that he’s going to try to find Izuru again. Well, Komaeda certainly wouldn’t want to let her down.

Without them, Komaeda doesn’t have much to do. They’re his only close friends, after all. He loiters around the dance floor for a while, flitting between acquaintances, until Ibuki takes control of the music and he decides to move into the other room before his eardrums become permanently damaged. 

It’s quieter in the next room. A few kids are smoking and a few others are talking and drinking amongst themselves. He’s pretty sure he sees some shamelessly hooking up in the corner. But what attracts him to this room is the well-dressed figure leaning on the wall with long black hair. Komaeda’s eyebrows shoot up at the sight of him, as though surprised by such a happy coincidence, and he makes his way over. 

“Hello again,” he greets, amiably. “I don’t believe we introduced ourselves before.” 

“You already know who I am,” Izuru responds immediately, his eyes scanning Komaeda’s figure. “You asked Hajime about me.” 

Komaeda blinks and smiles minutely. “Were you watching me, then?” 

Izuru seems unrepentant. “Yes.” 

Despite himself, Komaeda finds his face heating up a bit. Who would have imagined he’d attract _anyone’s_ attention, especially someone like Izuru? 

“I saw you gave Hajime the drink you made,” Izuru continues. His gaze sharpens into a glare. “What are you trying to do to my brother?”

Ah, well that would explain his interest then. Of course, he isn’t actually interested in Komaeda at all. It was kind of presumptuous and idiotic of him to assume otherwise.

Komaeda throws his hands up in defense at Izuru’s glare, smiling placatingly. “Like I said before, I just want him to loosen up. Honestly, I’m hoping he’ll be able to finally confess to Nanami-san.” 

“You drugged my brother without his knowledge or consent so he could ask a girl out?” 

“Er... yes.” 

He’s about to continue, to explain himself more, but Izuru’s mouth twitches up into a minuscule smile and his voice catches in his throat.

“That’s terrible,” Izuru says, looking impressed. 

Komaeda laughs, feeling his cheeks flush a bit. He moves so that his back is to the wall next to Izuru, and turns to him with an extended hand.

“Nagito Komaeda,” he says. “It’s very nice to meet you, Izuru-kun.”

Izuru stares at the outstretched hand for long enough that Komaeda almost considers dropping it, but he finally clasps it in his own, lightly, and gives it a small shake. 

“You’re Hajime’s roommate,” he says. “He talks about you. He didn’t mention that you were attractive.” 

His monotonous tone suggests that he’s stating a fact about the weather and Komaeda stares at him, wondering, sincerely, if in fact he did say that or if he misheard. Nothing in Izuru’s expression indicates that he might be giving a compliment.

“Ah...” Komaeda starts, unsure, but then decides to bite the bullet. “Thank you. Hinata-kun has mentioned you to me, but he didn’t say you were attractive, either.” He pauses as his brain catches up with his mouth. “Well, I don’t suppose he would. That would be weird.” 

“Even if he thought it, he would never admit it,” Izuru says smoothly. “He hates when I’m better than him at something. Which is most of the time.” 

Komaeda smiles at him. He remembers all of Hinata’s passionate rants about living in Izuru’s shadow, but he won’t say anything about it. 

“I’m surprised you’re here,” is what he says instead. “At this party, I mean. You’re not talking to anyone, so I can’t imagine you wanted to come.”

Izuru shrugs. “I hoped I’d find something to entertain me.” His eyes light on Komaeda and he tilts his head a bit, thoughtfully. “You’re interesting enough.” 

It sounds like a backhanded compliment, but Komaeda is pretty sure Izuru is trying to say something sincerely positive. He feels a bit surprised and unsure—surely there’s nothing interesting about him? If Izuru weren’t so serious, he might think he’s joking. Evidently, he’s just lucky. 

“I’m happy to entertain you, Izuru-kun,” he replies cheerily. “Although I can’t imagine it’s enough to just stand here and talk. Don’t you want to do something else?” 

Izuru’s gaze sweeps around the room, completely apathetic. “It’s boring here.”

No sooner do the words leave his mouth than does Hinata spiral into view, his face flushed and eyes wild. His darting gaze lands on Komaeda and he storms over. “What the fuck did you give me?” he demands, brandishing his (now empty) red cup before him and waving it. 

“Um,” Komaeda starts, smiling sheepishly and preparing a thousand insincere apologies. “Hinata-kun—”

“I don’t care,” Hinata interrupts and shoves the cup into Komaeda’s hand. “Can you get me another one? It was really good.” 

Komaeda lets out a sharp breath of relief. “Of course, Hinata-kun!” 

He’s wondering why Hinata hasn’t said anything about his choice of companion when he looks over and sees that Izuru’s spontaneously vanished. He feels a pang of disappointment but smothers it quickly as Hinata continues talking to him.

“Where’d you go off to, anyway? We’re about to start a game of truth or dare and there’s no way I’m doing something that stupid without you.” 

Komaeda casts another look around the room. Izuru is nowhere to be found. He sighs. “Sure.” 

He doesn’t really want to play truth or dare, especially since he’ll be the only sober one there—but he has nothing else to do, and at the very least, he can try to manipulate some sort of outcome between Hinata and Nanami. But Hinata will have to be drunker for it to work, so he sets off to refill his drink, first.

He starts a bit in surprise as he opens the door to the garage and recognizes the figure standing in front of the refrigerator, mixing a drink. “Sorry,” Izuru says without turning around. “I didn’t want Hajime to bitch if he saw me with you.” 

It’s the first time he’s cursed in front of Komaeda and it sounds so ridiculous that he laughs. It cracks, with a slightly hysterical edge to it. “Is that drink for him?” Komaeda asks, although he knows the answer already. 

“Of course. I don’t drink this stuff.” Izuru hands him the cup. “What are your plans now?”

Komaeda looks into the cup. The drink is the same color as the one he had given Hinata earlier, indicating it was probably mixed out of the same ingredients. Izuru really watched him closely earlier, even if he had seemed completely uninterested.

“Plans?” he asks, swirling the drink around. 

“If my impression of you is correct, you’re planning something else,” Izuru returns and Komaeda sees the ghost of a smile about his mouth. “If it involves messing with my brother some more, I will gladly cooperate.” 

“Well.” Komaeda grins, thankful to have someone who took as much pride in his schemes as he did. “Hinata-kun asked me to join in on their truth or dare game. I was hoping to exploit that to facilitate him or Nanami-san confessing to one another.” 

“So you have no exact plan yet? That’s a little boring.” 

Komaeda’s smile falters, but Izuru doesn’t look annoyed or disappointed in any way. Actually, he looks intrigued, like he’s figuring out a problem.

“Let’s make it more interesting,” Izuru says. “We’ll both join the game, and compete to see who can cause them to confess first. Whoever does so wins.” 

Sounds exciting enough. “But what if they don’t end up confessing at all?” 

“I don’t think we have to worry about that.” Izuru tilts his chin up arrogantly. 

Komaeda laughs. “Well, we’ll see.” 

He heads off to meet Hinata and the others, drink in hand. Izuru lags behind, because Hinata might flip his lid if he saw them arrive together. Komaeda’s heart is racing excitedly; he wants to win, both for the sake of winning and also because it will make Izuru more interested in him. Hopefully, anyway.

A bunch of them are sitting in a circle in one of Hinata’s spare rooms. Hinata pats the ground next to him, and Komaeda settles down into it, handing Hinata his drink. Nanami is sitting on the opposite side of Hinata, looking surprisingly more bright-eyed than usual—the Red Bull concoction Hinata gave her must have actually worked. 

Izuru sits down on the other side of the circle, directly across from Hinata. Hinata notices him and crinkles up his nose in confusion. “Why are you here? I haven’t seen you all night.” 

Izuru shrugs. “This might be fun.” 

If Hinata is suspicious he says nothing. The rest of them are already seated except Ibuki, who comes bounding over with an empty glass bottle in her hand. “Who’s ready to get started?” she yells, holding the bottle up to her mouth like a microphone.

“Yeah, yeah, hurry up and sit down,” Souda pipes up. “I think we’ve had enough musical performances from you for one night.” 

“Kazuichi-chan volunteers to go first!” Ibuki shouts back at him, slamming the bottle down in front of him. 

“Wait, no I didn’t—!” 

Ibuki ignores him and seats herself down between Sonia and Izuru. Komaeda notices that her eyes light up on Izuru and she tries to reach a hand out to his hair, but he sends her an ice-cold glare that stops her in her tracks. Watching it, he can’t help but laugh. 

“Alright, whatever,” Souda concedes and spins the bottle. 

The game isn’t too interesting, admittedly. It’s a bit amusing, especially when Souda truth’s a drunken Sonia into answering if she likes anyone and she happily answers “Tanaka-san!” to Souda’s overwhelming despair. And then when Ibuki dares Koizumi to dance in her underwear on the table and Saionji starts throwing money at her. But he doesn’t pay too much attention, despite these shenanigans, until the bottle lands on him. 

Hanamura is the one who spun it so Komaeda prepares himself for something uncomfortably sexual and picks truth. 

“Is it true,” Hanamura asks with a waggle of his eyebrows, “that you used to have a crush on our good friend Hinata-kun here?” 

It’s a good thing Komaeda’s not drinking anything because he certainly would have choked on it. Distantly he hears some wolf whistling and surprised murmurs around the group but his mind is too preoccupied with thinking of ways to kill Hanamura to really notice. Maybe he’ll trick him into murdering someone and have him caught. Something awful, with conclusive evidence, so he’s executed.

“That’s true,” he concedes sheepishly. Next to him he can see that Hinata’s flushing furiously but looks completely unimpressed.

“Yeah, okay, this was already a thing, no surprises here.” Hinata waves it off, but he’s the only one to whom this is not news, so the rest of them continue to titter. Next to Hinata, Nanami’s eyes are wide, and they’re fixed on Komaeda curiously. 

Based on her reaction, she doesn’t seem to be the jealous type. Well, at least this helps him to get a better handle on how to approach their situation. Still, he could’ve done without the embarrassment. He buried that messy Hinata situation in the past long ago. 

Now that he’s thinking about Hinata and Nanami, he sneaks a glance at Izuru, whose expression is perfectly impassive except for a hint of...annoyance, maybe? 

Great, well now he’s screwed up big time, and Izuru thinks he wants to fuck his brother. Maybe he thinks he’s just some weird pervert trying to make his way through the whole Hinata family?  

He’s busy wallowing in his own self-deprecation until Hinata yells at everyone to shut up and nudges him with an elbow. “Dude, it’s your turn.” 

“Ah, right.” He knows who he wants the bottle to land on, and with his kind of good luck, that’s the only thing he needs. So he watches, completely unsurprised, as it lands on Hinata.

Hinata casts him a glare, but if he’s suspicious about the bottle landing on him, he says nothing.

“Truth or dare, Hinata-kun?” 

Hinata seems to be weighing his options because it takes him a long moment to answer. Then, “Dare.” 

He thinks he’s being smart with that one, but it’s not like Komaeda would really just ask him outright if he liked Nanami. That’s too simple. Too boring, Izuru might say. 

“I dare you to kiss the prettiest girl in this room.” Komaeda grins maniacally. “I say ‘girl’ because if I included the boys, we all know you’d have to pick me, Hinata-kun.” 

Hinata smacks him upside the head for his trouble but then it seems his words catch up to him and he looks mortified. “You son of a bitch,” he growls. 

Still, sober Hinata would never do this in a million years so Komaeda is infinitely thankful for those drinks he gave him, because after a few moments of fidgeting and hesitation, he turns and pecks Nanami quickly on the mouth.

The wolf whistles start up again and someone—Komaeda is fairly certain it’s Sonia, actually—yells “get some!” Nanami starts and a pink flush spreads across her cheeks. She smiles like she’s touched, but Hinata won’t look at her. 

Although there’s palpable tension in the air, neither one of them says anything. Komaeda isn’t too disappointed; there will be more opportunities, after all. He’s confident that it won’t take much more of a push at this point. As long as the bottle lands on him again before—

“Izuru,” Hinata says when the bottle stops spinning. 

Well, that’s just bad luck.

“Hajime,” Izuru answers. “I’m glad it’s you, because I doubt anyone else here would know what to truth or dare me.”

“I don’t even know what to ask, honestly. So, truth or dare?” 

“Truth,” comes the immediate reply.

This momentarily stumps Hinata, who was obviously expecting Izuru to pick dare. His eyes flicker around the group as he tries to think of a question. Komaeda supposes it’s pretty difficult; Hinata can’t ask anything romantic or sexual, because who wants to know that about their brother?

Hinata’s perfectly quiet until finally he says, “Do you ever get lonely?” 

Izuru raises an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” 

“I mean, we both know you never really bother to make friends,” Hinata extrapolates. “That’s nothing new. But do you ever wish you had some?” 

There’s a titter among the group; some of them are laughing at Hinata’s tactless question. But Izuru doesn’t look offended at all. He frowns, his eyebrows drawn together in concentration. His piercing eyes scan the circle and Komaeda’s breath catches for a moment because he swears they stop on him for just a millisecond before roaming past him. 

“I suppose,” Izuru says, finally, “that I can see the appeal of friendship.”

Komaeda stifles a smile at his answer, while Hinata’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Before Hinata can question him further, Izuru reaches out for the bottle. “My turn,” he says and spins it. 

Komaeda’s nervous, because his attempt at forcing a confession out of Hinata or Nanami didn’t work, but he consoles himself because there’s no way Izuru will land on either of them. After all, the only reason he landed on Hinata was because of his luck, and there’s no way Izuru has that—

The bottle lands on Nanami. 

Komaeda makes a strangled noise that he can’t quite suppress and it emerges from his throat as a wheezing laugh. Hinata looks at him, concerned, but he’s trying to stop himself from laughing any more because it really is _ridiculous,_ Izuru is ridiculous, and now he’s looking smugly at Komaeda from across the circle which makes him want to laugh even more. 

Izuru’s smug look vanishes as quickly as it appeared when Nanami turns her attention to him. “Chiaki Nanami,” he addresses her. 

“Ah, you’re Hinata-kun’s brother,” Nanami answers, nodding to herself as if affirming this fact. “It’s nice to meet you, Izuru-kun.” 

Instead of returning the sentiment, Izuru responds with, “Truth or dare?” 

Nanami’s cheeks puff out as she contemplates her answer, brow furrowing. Then she exhales and says, “Dare.” 

Izuru’s face twists imperceptibly, into the shadow of a smirk. “I dare you to kiss me,” he says immediately. 

Hinata, who had been taking a drink from the cup Komaeda provided him, promptly spits it out everywhere. Komaeda and Nanami both jump back to avoid the spray. The rest of the group erupts into laughter as Hinata enters a coughing fit. 

Komaeda locks eyes with Izuru across the circle, but Izuru’s expression hasn’t changed. He knows what Izuru is getting at here, but he can’t say he’s completely happy about it. 

Nanami scrunches up her nose, considering. “I guess I’ll just get it over with,” she decides, and begins to get up to move. 

“No!” 

For a minute Komaeda is afraid that the word comes from him, because he’s thinking about saying it. But it’s Hinata. He throws out an arm in front of Nanami, blocking her. “Nope, no, no, not happening,” he rambles. “Okay, this whole dumb game is done now. We’re done playing, goodbye everybody.” 

He repeats this frantically, waving his arms, until everyone gets up with a collective murmur. They leave, one by one, until Izuru, Komaeda, Hinata, and Nanami are the only ones left. 

“Hinata-kun,” Nanami begins, blinking in surprise. 

“I, uh...” Hinata seems to realize what exactly he’s done and his face burns red. “You didn’t have to do that, Nanami. Izuru shouldn’t have tried to make you.” 

She shrugs. “I didn’t really care about it.” 

“But—” Hinata cuts himself off. Komaeda holds his breath, watching him carefully. Maybe Izuru didn’t win, after all.

His hopes are dashed when Hinata continues, “Listen, there’s something I have to tell you.”

As if on cue, Izuru stands up and goes to leave. When he passes Komaeda he jerks his head, gesturing him to follow. It’s obvious Hinata isn’t going to continue until he’s alone with Nanami, so Komaeda begrudgingly gets up and follows him. Not before he sends a wink at Hinata, who throws out an obscene finger gesture behind his back. 

“I won,” is the first thing Izuru says when they’ve left the room.

Komaeda laughs but it sounds forced even to his own ears. “You did,” he admits. “How did you land on Nanami-san? I thought maybe I could get another chance before you asked either of them anything.” 

Izuru cocks his head. “If you understand physics, it’s easy to manipulate where you want the bottle to land,” he explains, speaking as though Komaeda has just asked a particularly dumb question. “Isn’t that how you landed on Hajime?” 

A self-deprecating grin spreads across Komaeda’s face. “I’m not that talented. I’m just lucky.” 

His tone is dismal but Izuru perks up a bit as though this information is interesting to him. “Impressive.” 

Komaeda doesn’t think it’s impressive at all, so he struggles to find another topic to discuss. “We never decided on the winner’s prize,” he points out.

“We didn’t,” Izuru agrees, entirely unsurprised, so that Komaeda thinks he probably omitted this fact on purpose. Instead of thinking about it, though, he adds, “I’m glad Hajime stopped everything before I had to kiss Nanami.” 

Me too, Komaeda thinks but doesn’t say. He tilts his head. “Why?” 

Izuru is silent for so long that Komaeda starts to wonder if he should repeat his question. But he doesn’t, because he’s kind of eager to leave the entire awkward situation that was the truth or dare game behind them. 

“It would have been my first kiss,” Izuru says eventually. 

His flat delivery of such a typically sentimental line sends Komaeda into a fit of genuine laughter, despite his previously somber mood. Izuru watches him curiously, unperturbed by being laughed at, but slightly confused. 

“Haha, I’m sorry, Izuru-kun,” Komaeda chokes out after he stops laughing. “I’m just surprised you would say something like that. Does such a thing matter to you?” 

“Doesn’t it matter to you?” 

Komaeda stops abruptly. “Well—yes. But I didn’t think it would matter to you.” 

Izuru shrugs. “It doesn’t, really. But I typically like my first time doing anything to be memorable and enjoyable. This would have been neither of those.” 

There’s a bit of satisfaction in hearing that. Not that he means any malice toward Nanami, but—well, at least it’s good to know that Izuru has no interest in her. Even if he undoubtedly has no interest in Komaeda either.

Izuru is studying him quizzically. Then he asks, “Have you ever done it before?” 

Komaeda blinks at him. “Ah... come again, Izuru-kun?” 

Izuru is unrepentant. “Have you ever kissed anyone before?” 

He’s tempted to lie, but he knows Izuru will pick up on the lie right away and that will only make things even more uncomfortable. “Only once,” he admits. “But I’m not sure if I really count it.” 

Izuru stares at him, his expression eerily blank, and Komaeda takes that as his cue to explain.

“It’s pretty embarrassing, really,” he warns. 

Izuru’s stare is unwavering.

“Okay,” he acquiesces with an uncomfortable smile. “Well, thanks to Hanamura-kun you know about how I _used_ to like Hinata-kun,”—he emphasizes the past tense as much as possible—“and, well... when I confessed to him, I...” 

His courage fails him momentarily and he trails off, but Izuru waits. Although Komaeda is completely certain he knows how he’s going to finish the sentence, but he just wants Komaeda to suffer through saying it. 

“I kissed him,” he finishes hastily. “But it didn’t feel right. I realized that my romantic feelings for him were probably misplaced, and they were in fact just platonic. I think I thought otherwise because he was my first friend, and I cared about him a lot, so I was confused.” 

He says this all in a bit of a rush, desperate to explain, because it is a bit weird to be talking to Izuru about liking his brother. He’s unsure if Izuru really picks up on anything he’s saying, and there’s no way to tell, because his expression doesn’t change. 

He thinks he knows Izuru well enough already, though, to determine that he’s listening very carefully. He isn’t the type to miss any details, although he may appear uninterested. 

“I’m sorry if that made you uncomfortable,” Komaeda says to break the continuing silence.

Izuru’s expression shifts slightly as though he’s been snapped out of a trance. His eyes flicker up, a vague gesture of thoughtfulness. 

Finally, he speaks. 

“I’ve decided what I want my prize to be.” 

Komaeda smiles, not too taken aback, since the abrupt subject change isn’t much of a surprise when talking to Izuru. “Ah, so you didn’t mention it earlier because you didn’t know what you wanted it to be.”

“I didn’t,” Izuru agrees. “But now I know.” 

Komaeda cocks his head, waiting patiently. 

“With your permission, I would like to kiss you.” 

Komaeda can’t help but gape at him. Once again he’s baffled by the idea that anybody could ever be interested in him, especially someone like Izuru. He’s really not interesting at all; he couldn’t even win their bet. It doesn’t make sense, but perhaps it’s just his good luck again. 

“Um... Izuru-kun—would you really want to—?”

“I told you I’ve never done it before,” Izuru explains coolly. His expression doesn’t change even as Komaeda stares at him, wide-eyed. “I’d rather the first time be on my own terms, with someone I wouldn’t mind doing it with.” 

“Of course—if you _want_ to, Izuru-kun. But I’m sure there’s something else you’d rather—?”  

“No,” Izuru interrupts him again. “This is what I want. As long as you want to, as well. If not, I’ll think of something else.” 

He really is strange. “It’s _your_ prize, Izuru-kun. It would seem rude of me to refuse to do it, since you beat me.”  

Izuru’s face twitches like he’s mildly disgusted. It’s the first real expression Komaeda ever sees on him and it immediately makes him worried that he’s said something horribly wrong. 

“Ah, but I _do_ want to,” Komaeda hastens to add. “I don’t mind at all.”

Izuru’s eyes study him, and then he nods. “You’re not lying.” 

“Of course not. You’re perceptive enough to tell if I am.” 

Izuru nods. “Then let’s go.”

He walks away abruptly. Komaeda heads after him with a bounce in his step, partly from excitement and partly from nervousness. 

“Where are we going?” Komaeda asks. 

“To my room,” Izuru replies easily. “Unless you’d rather do it here and give the rest of these simpletons something else to gossip about.” 

“Aw, you shouldn’t talk about them that way, Izuru-kun,” Komaeda says, but he can’t help sounding amused. 

Izuru only shrugs. Komaeda can’t think of anything else to say, and words are failing him anyway as they ascend the stairs to the second floor of the house. So he stays quiet while Izuru leads him down the hallway and into his room, which is spectacularly neat and plain. Not that he was expecting any different, since Izuru doesn’t live at home most of the time, anyway. 

He’s about to comment on the room but when his head turns back to Izuru he finds his lips are captured in a surprisingly gentle kiss. He makes a small noise of surprise, eyes widening before he realizes he should close them completely. 

He barely has time to press back into the kiss before Izuru abruptly pulls away. He looks entirely impassive and if not for the heartbeat thrumming wildly in his ears Komaeda would think that the kiss might not have happened. 

“Thank you,” Izuru says mechanically, as though he’s choosing his words with great care. “That was an adequate first kiss.”

“Adequate?” Komaeda echoes, although he’s too disoriented to feel particularly hurt or annoyed by this choice of words.

“Good,” Izuru amends. “Pleasant. But I might need a longer lasting one to really judge how I feel about it.” 

“Ah, well. Next time, then.” The words are out of Komaeda’s mouth before he really thinks about them. 

Izuru nods. “Next time.” 

Before Komaeda can even react, he hears an ear-splitting screech coming from downstairs. It’s Hinata, he realizes after a moment, yelling Izuru’s name amid a torrent of expletives. He probably finished whatever kind of moment he was having with Nanami and remembered what Izuru did. 

“I should go,” Izuru says smoothly, as though this is completely unsurprising. He starts to walk out of the room, but stops at the doorway suddenly. Then he turns around and something dangerously close to a smile graces his lips.

“You should think more highly of yourself,” he says. “You’re more interesting than anyone here.” 

He leaves, and Komaeda can’t stop the giddy grin that spreads across his face. 

 

 

A few days later, Hinata bursts into their room looking like he’s just seen an animal being slaughtered. Komaeda watches him, mildly alarmed, from his place at his desk where he was studying. 

“What’s wro—” he begins but Hinata cuts him off. 

“Why,” he yells, probably loudly enough for the entire hall to hear, “did Izuru just tell me to bring you home with me this weekend?! What the _fuck_ happened with you guys at that party?!?!” 

Komaeda grins like an idiot. Izuru may have won their bet, but he still feels like he won, in the long run, too. “I guess you could say I got lucky.” 

The bruise he gets when Hinata throws a blunt object at him is totally worth it. He’ll accept that bad luck, with all the good luck he’s sure to come his way. 


End file.
